Spain
The Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra has been a permanent performer of the classical music scene's international elite for 60 years; thus, they are rightly known as one of the most prestigious representatives of chamber music.
The orchestra has been led by Péter Tfirst since 2016, and year after year, they perform in the most significant concert halls with first-class soloists, who delight in working with the ensemble due to their high degree of precision, versatility, and adaptability.
The orchestra was founded in 1963 by some former Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music students. During this half a century – under the leadership of Frigyes Sándor and subsequently János Rolla – the orchestra has gained international recognition: they have performed in more than fifty countries, including the Carnegie Hall in New York, the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Sydney Opera House, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and the Théatre de la Ville in Paris.
The recent years abounded with outstanding concerts: the ensemble performed at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, the Tonhalle in Düsseldorf, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Carnegie Hall in New York and the Heydar Aliyev in Baku. They also played at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival and the Gstaad Menuhin Festival. They visited the world-famous National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing and were invited to one of the most prestigious festivals in Asia: the China-Shanghai International Arts Festival.
They opened the Liszt Year 2011 and the Hungarian EU presidency at the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, where the concert was attended by Juan Carlos I, King of Spain, and his wife Sofia. Besides the highly acclaimed German and Italian tours, the orchestra gave a series of concerts in South America in 2013 and Japan in 2014.
To name a few of the great stars of the past, the orchestra collaborated with Sviatoslav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovich, Isaac Stern,Yehudi Menuhin and Jean-Pierre Rampal, and in recent years, with such celebrities as Martha Argerich, Julia Fischer, Vadim Repin, Emmanuel Pahud, Vadim Gluzman, Denis Matsuev, Mischa Maisky, Maxim Vengerov, Ilya Gringolts, David Fray, Denis Bouriakov and Martin Fröst. Among the renowned Hungarian star soloists, we see the names of Júlia Pusker, Gábor Boldoczki, Ödön Rácz, Emőke Baráth, Kristóf Baráti and Gábor Takács-Nagy.
In 2016, Deutsche Grammophon released their album as a joint venture with Ödön Rácz, which was unanimously commended by music critics.
Since 2016 the orchestra has been led by concertmaster Péter Tfirst, and the ensemble continues to perform both at home and around the world with the usual high level of artistic interpretation and the unique Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra timbre. At the beginning of 2020, both in Hungary and abroad, the news spread that István Várdai, the world-famous cellist was joining the orchestra as Artistic Director to create a new artistic concept and to enhance its professional development.
The Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra is proud to be a national orchestra of Hungary and to represent and promote Hungarian culture throughout the world.
